Presence

Hello Salt Church, how you doing today? Good morning, good morning. Come on now. Are you glad to be in church today? Are you joyful today?

Are we going to be a joyful church? Let's be joyful today. We are in the presence of the Lord, gathered together. Even in the midst of a crisis, we can gather together and we can celebrate God. Even in your mass, man, those mass can't hold back God's people, amen?

You can reach right through those mass. You can praise right through those mass. Celebrate God today. I hope y'all are doing well. We are in a series called Church and Culture and we're still kind of operating at more of a condensed service and so I'm kind of rolling through things quick here so that you guys that are in mass can get a breather and get outside.

They are saying that it's definitely much healthier to be outside right now than be inside and in closed places. So I'm praying that God would do some amazing things in the midst of what we're going through. And he already is. I can't tell you the amount of stories I've gotten as people are walking along this crisis. How God is providing.

How God is healing. How God is meeting people in the midst of like a world that sees this. This event that's taking place as something super, you know, like it's the end of the world. We have a lot of apocalyptic talk, right? I mean, the end of the world is near.

But we can rejoice because you know what? This is not the first time this has happened and God has gotten the church through this. The church has actually grown through things like this. When the church is faced with diversity, it grows. And my goal for you today and sharing with you this series, Church and Culture, is that we are counterculture people.

We are countercultural people. And the idea of the series takes us, it says as we are Jesus followers, we bring the best out of culture when culture doesn't look its best. So we've been walking through what that looks like. Rather than be like the culture, what we do is somehow very attractional to the people around us. Therefore, they are drawn to us because we have something different.

We live differently. So we've been walking through this. And this is kind of a discipleship series, if you want to call it that, where we're kind of digging a bit deeper and looking and investigating our lives as believers. But even if you're kicking the tires trying to figure out Jesus for the first time today, you are so welcome to be here. And we know that we've got something for you today.

God's got something in His Word for you that you can take with you. I was listening to a pastor share the story about recently being in Africa before the crisis and everything. It was about a year or so ago. And he shared the story about how he was visiting his daughter, who is in Kenya, Africa, Nairobi area, and is a part of a ministry or is actually leading a ministry to help teenagers and children who are hooked on drugs, glue, things like that, and get them out of that lifestyle and really bless them and minister to them and help them become who Christ created them to be. And as he was there visiting, he hung around a lot of teenagers in this country, these African teenagers.

And he said, you know, the African culture of teenagers is not much different than the culture here with our teenagers. The way they're excited, they're happy and all that. But there's one key difference with them that they don't have there that they have here. And that difference is technology. He says, here you see our kids with cell phones, you see them with iPads, you see them with all these things.

But there, they don't have anything. They don't have a lot. So they learn to interact with each other, to be very present with each other. And there was a sense of happiness. They would play cards together.

They would joke with each other. They'd just have this amazing time. And it brought out some type of happiness just by being together and connected with each other. There was a sense of happiness, being present with each other. A few years ago, I was, in fact, with a group of guys here in the church.

And we went on a surf trip to Peru for a short surf trip. Yeah. I hear you, Greg. Greg, he was there with me. And we went to this small little cute beach coastal town named Isabella.

And we're walking around the streets there. A little nice little area. Kind of took me back in time. Felt like it was kind of a, you know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Some of those beaches looked like they were from the 1950s, you know.

Just kind of going back in time. And just a nice little stroll. It was about 7 o'clock at night. Not a whole lot going on. But one thing I noticed about the people there is they were all out.

They were hanging out around tables. They were playing checkers. They were playing chess. They were playing cards. People were hanging around different areas in the shopping centers.

And they were just really connected. In fact, they'd be laughing over here. They'd be arguing at one table over here. I think they were gambling. One of the tables, they were actually gambling.

And I'm not approving of gambling by any stretch of the imagination. But somebody got really heated. And they were just kind of going back and forth. And then they started laughing. But I just, there was something in the air about people being present with each other.

With no distractions. They didn't have a lot. But they had each other. And there's something special about that. And one thing that I think is really important in our culture is that when we are with someone, we need to be present with those people.

We need to be very present with those people. Fully connected and fully engaged. So I want to make this first statement as we open up. Presence influences happiness. Presence, being present and connected with people influences happiness.

Have you ever had a conversation with somebody? You had a meal with somebody. And the whole time you were with them, they were disconnected from you. Maybe they were looking at their phone, you know, or they were kind of off somewhere else thinking about something else. Had a friend growing up.

That was before iPhones and all of that. But we did have cell phones. And they were kind of a new thing in my early 20s. And it would drive me crazy. Every time we hung out, we probably hadn't seen each other for two years.

He was on the phone the whole time with somebody else. And I'm like, why are you even here? You're not even connected with me. I walked into a restaurant probably about six or seven months ago. And there was this pastor there that I actually wanted to connect with.

I didn't know him. And I just love other pastors. Thank you very much. I just love other pastors, just being with other pastors here in the community. I believe that we are a church of many churches.

We're all the capital C church in this area, and we love working with other churches and ministering to our communities together, and ministering to Hampton Roads together. And there was this pastor there, and I'd heard about him. He had started a new church, and I was pretty excited about meeting him because I thought maybe we can have a good friendship here and kind of throw some...and I walk up to him, and I introduce myself. He introduces himself back.

But the whole time, I'm talking to him, and I'm engaging. I'm a talker. I get that. I talk a lot. Maybe I talk too much, and the other person isn't able to engage.

But as I'm talking, I notice that he's kind of staring off the whole time. Like, yeah. And he'd, like, look over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he'd smile, and he'd look over.

And yeah, yeah. Have you ever done that? Yeah, yeah. And he'd look over again. And I just felt like, are we connecting here?

And then finally, I looked over my shoulder to see where he was looking, and he was staring at his computer and his workspace over there. So I knew that I was interfering with whatever he had going on. And it didn't make me feel too good. It didn't make me feel valued when I connected with him. So there was a study done at Cornell University that kind of looked at this thing about being present with people, being connected with people.

And they took chocolate. And they took one brand of chocolate. They split the chocolate up and spread it across an area. And they numbered the chocolate. And then they brought people in and said, they basically lied to them and said, this chocolate is from all over the world, and we want you to taste test this chocolate and try different chocolates and tell us which one is the better chocolate.

So they'd bring the people that were a part of the research in, the participators of the research. And the researchers would be there kind of manning everything. And the difference between tasting one chocolate and another chocolate is that when they tasted one chocolate, they would be fully, the researcher would be fully connected with the person when they were eating the chocolate. And then other times when they ate the other chocolate, they would be disconnected. They would go to their phone.

They would leave the room. They'd act like they weren't really valued. And what they learned is when they rated the chocolates, the people who rated the chocolates the highest were the ones, the chocolates that were rated the highest were the ones where the testers, the people that were conducting the process or the test were fully connected with the people who were taking, who were trying out the chocolate. So what does that tell us? Even research suggests that people need connectivity because presence amplifies one's experience.

Presence amplifies one's experience. Being fully connected with people actually does something. It enhances the experience. It enhances happiness. And this isn't just at a young, this isn't just for adults.

This happens at a young age. Kids know this. Kids actually experience happiness when they're connected. That's why your kids say, hey, daddy, hey, mommy, look at me. You know, look at what I can do.

And they do something really simple. They want to turn around. My kids, you know, they do something and they kind of look over at me to make sure I'm looking at them because they want them. And it could be something really silly like jumping over something. My son, he's got a habit of saying, look at me, look at me, look at me.

You know, his therapist told him to do that when he was younger, when he was working on communication and things like that. So he thinks that's what you're supposed to do. But he does notice like when I'm looking away or I'm looking down at my phone, he's trying to talk to me. He'll say, dad, look at me. And then he'll tell me what I need to hear from him because he wants to be connected.

My daughter is, she just flat out tells me, daddy, you're always on your phone and you don't ever listen to me. Because kids, they, they, they get that. They get when we're, we're like that. And it, and it really kind of challenges me with my kids. And so, so not only adults, but children get it at a young age because presence is, is a God value.

See, presence is not just a cultural value. It's not just a research, uh, uh, statement. It's, it's a God value. His very presence brought the earth into existence. His very presence, uh, hovered over the waters and brought life.

God was very present. And, and, and the Old Testament, God says, they will be my people and I will be their God. I will dwell among them. I will be with them. I will make my home with them.

I will walk with them. I will live with them. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Ezekiel, Joshua, Jeremiah, on and on and on. Talk about this idea of God being present with his people. In the New Testament, it's reiterated by the apostles, Paul, the, uh, uh, uh, uh, the apostle Paul, the apostle John, and, and all the way to revelation from beginning to end.

We see that God is very present with his people. And God made himself very present through his son, Jesus Christ. In John 4, 14, many of us are familiar with this scripture. It says, so the word, Jesus, the word became flesh or became human. I love how the NLT says it.

So the word became human and made his, what? His home among us. He was very present. We call this the incarnation. He came and he dwelt.

He left heaven and came and lived with us. He taught us. He shared. He healed. And then when he left this world, he said that he was going to send the Holy Spirit to us to dwell inside of us.

You can't get much closer and much more connected than that. Amen? He would send a helper to be with us. Look what Paul says in Ephesians. He says, I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.

Then Christ will make his, what? Home. He will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. So if this is a God value, should presence be important to us? Because here's the deal.

That's very counter-cultural. It's not your norm to desire presence, especially in a time when we're faced with a pandemic, when we're asked to be separated, and we've connected more through technology than ever before. And for some of us, we realize, oh, we can do this a little better. And that's good. And there's no.

Nothing wrong with that, but what it's done is it's became a replacement, it has become a replacement to the idea of actually being present with people, and this is nothing new. This has been going on for a long time. We cannot blame it on a pandemic. We have been disconnected. We have been isolated.

In fact, it all started with the invention of this little thing right here. This guy right here, this neat little phone, and I'm going to give you some pictures up here of just some, you know, kind of what we see in our culture. Does this look familiar? I can't tell you how many restaurants I walk into and I see this going on. How about the next one?

Does this look familiar to any of you? My wife reminded me the other day that on my birthday about a year ago, we went to a nice restaurant I was doing that. I didn't know that. That's an issue. How about the next one?

How about this one? How many of you have been doing this? Is this a common thing for people? See, what happens is friendships, marriages, adults with children, all of these are affected by the way we are present with one another. How are we interacting with people?

Is this culturally acceptable? Yes, it is. Is it a big deal? Yes, it is. The fact is, even the American Psychological Association has coined this term, technoference.

Technoference. It's technology having an effect on relationships. Technology has had a drastic effect on the way that people interact with each other, and it's done more harm than good. And 13 years ago, roughly 13 years ago, this invention came out, and we were so enamored with it because it had everything that we could ever need in our hands. We can work apps.

We can work applications. We can do all kinds of things. We can check our emails. We can do social media. When social media blew up, we could do it right there on our phones, and it has taken us away from what truly matters in front of us, and it's created a culture where we see more divorce rates as a result of it.

We see loneliness. We see depression. We see fear of missing out. Some of you have talked about that in past sermons, the fear of missing out, FOMO, that people, you know, what's going on? You know, the phone's ringing, and we're triggered, right?

So we run to the phone because we want to know exactly what's going on, and we're so focused on what's possibly happening on that side of the ringer that we forget what's actually in front of us right here, right now, being present. See, Steve Jobs once said this, once in a while, a product comes along that changes everything. I don't think he had any idea what this little thing would have done to relationships and what it would have done to our culture. So how many of you, let me just ask, this is just a poll. How many of you have an iPhone?

How many people in here have iPhones? Okay, that's most of the people in here. How many of you are Android users? You know the other one. You have an iPhone, and you, okay.

So those of you who are iPhone users, you might want to make sure you social distance a little more from the Android because they're known to blow up. So just saying, very true. Well, when they fall off a car, of course they break. When we are connected to everyone out there in this, through this, we forget who's right in front of us. The people that are right in front of us, the most important people.

And it's such a big deal, guys, that iPhone developers and even Android developers have actually developed these apps to tell us about our screen time. So this is a big deal to those of technology. Those who develop the technology, it's gotten that big. So I want to talk about how we can keep these devices from decreasing people's happiness. And I'm not promoting phone abstinence or technology abstinence.

Please hear me. I love my iPhone. I have a Mac. I have an iPad. I'm using one right here.

Or some of you are like, he doesn't even have a Bible on stage. I have everything right here. I have my whole Bible. I have my whole research. I can flip screens and do that.

It's amazing. Then I don't have to wear, you know, back in the day we would walk up with books, you know, and put little things all over the place. I can do it right. I love technology, but I'm not promoting tech abstinence. I'm promoting phone consciousness.

We got to be aware because if we're not aware, then we get consumed by the things around us and we don't think. We don't think properly, much like this girl on this video here. If you want to see this. You thought she was throwing bread to the birds. I have it on repeat because this is so good.

Yeah, so. Oh, we're going to play it again, I guess. Yeah. Romans says, don't be so conformed to the culture that you fit into it without even thinking. We need to instead let God transform you by changing the way what you think.

So don't be so consumed and become so much like the culture that you don't even know what you're doing, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind the way you think. We don't want to morph into what the culture is. We want to be different because that's what God does through believers, through those who are followers of Christ. And this isn't just a Christian thing. This is a non-Christian.

This is a Christian, non-Christian thing. And I think it's making our society socially dumb. We're beginning, you know, conversationally dumb, socially dumb. We got to look at it. Let me just show you a video here.

Just a nice little video before I share the Word of God here with you. It bears repeating. Absolutely. So, how much of that is familiar to you in our culture? I thought that video was great because it really does show us what it means not to conform to the culture, but be transformed.

And Jesus, I think we can look to Jesus in Scripture and see how He interacted with people. We can learn from Him. In Luke 2, the Gospel of Luke, beginning with verse 41 through 50, we see Jesus and His parents going into Jerusalem. And it says this, if you want to follow along with me. By the way, I forgot to tell you this.

I usually mention this at the beginning, but you can go to your YouVersion Bible app, hit events, and on events, find Salt Church, and you'll see all of our Scripture there laid out for you, so you don't have to roll through your Bible if you don't have your Bible with you. We usually have handout notes for you, physical handout notes before the crisis, but right now we're just working off of technology. So, we're talking about technology, but there is beauty in technology, so we can use it for that. But it says this, beginning with verse 41, Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. And when Jesus was 12 years old, they attended the festival as usual.

So, this was a normal occurrence. Just to give you some context. Any male who came of age would make a trip to Jerusalem to the Passover. And this was a very common thing, so this was a really big celebration, a lot of people. And then it says, after the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth.

So, they were going from Nazareth to Jerusalem and back to Nazareth after the festival. But Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Now, Jesus was very young. He was a boy. And his parents didn't miss him at first because they assumed he was among the other travelers.

Some of you mothers in here are like, what in the world was going on here, right? But when he didn't show up that evening, they started looking for him among the relatives and friends. And when they couldn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. And then three days later, three days later after searching for him, they finally discovered him in the temple, sitting among the religious leaders, listening to them and asking questions. You need to underline that.

Listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. His parents didn't know what to think. Son, his mother said to him, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic searching for you everywhere.

But why did you need to search, he asked. Didn't you know that I must be in my father's house? But they didn't understand what he meant. And I don't fault the parents one bit. I mean, it was Jesus.

I mean, what would it be like to have Jesus as a child? I mean, yeah. Jesus! What? You think you know everything, don't you?

Right? Well, yeah. I do. Dad? I do, yeah.

So, you know, I don't fault them at all. I mean, that must have been a task. How hard it would to be able to raise like God himself. But what was Jesus doing? What was Jesus doing?

I love how it says Jesus was listening and asking questions. He was listening and asking questions. He was present and engaged with the people. The people were priorities to him. He validated people this way.

And the second point I want to make, listening validates people as valuable. Listening validates people as valuable. And that's why people are happier when they're present with people. Because when people are present with them, they feel valued. They feel like they're important.

They feel like that you love them and you care about them. And I'm not loving you in your presence if I'm looking at this device the whole time. Or focused on something else. If I'm not connected with you, if I'm not present with you as we're talking, then I'm missing out. I'm not really loving you.

I heard this said, checking your phone is like picking your nose. There's nothing wrong with it, but no one should have to watch you do it. Right? Okay, nobody thought that was funny. Okay.

I thought it was funny when I wrote it down. And there's this thing called fubbing now. Fubbing. And they actually put up signs in restaurants, say no to fubbing, which primarily means it's snubbing people with your phone, basically. So now you've got these say no to fubbing.

And, you know, we used to see say no to drugs, but apparently that's the issue now. Maybe drugs isn't the issue. And fubbing is the issue now, is the primary issue now. But I think it's interesting how we were used to one time being say no to people that knew this whole say no to drugs. Now we're talking about say no to fubbing because we are more concerned about what could be on this phone and what's going on, FOMO, and not engage with the people that are right in front of us, the people that we need to connect with.

See, Martha and Mary were friends of Jesus and there was a similar thing going on here. If you remember the story, Jesus goes to visit Mary and Martha and they have people over and they're having a party and Martha's busy at work. And Mary's not. Mary's over with Jesus and she's talking to Jesus. She's engaged with Jesus.

She's having a discussion with Jesus. She's basically just loving being in the presence of Jesus. And Martha gets angry. How many of you have been there? You've watched other people do something that they're supposed to be over here helping, but they're doing something else and you get frustrated.

Well, Martha, I can relate to Martha. I've seen that. I watch that. You know, I see it from time to time and it can be aggravating. But here's how the Lord responded to Martha when Martha said, Lord, will you tell her to help me?

And he said this, but my dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details, right? There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it and it will not be taken away from her because she was in the presence of almighty God himself. Martha was concerned about- While Martha was concerned about- 赤 What could be, and what should be. She was concerned about the preparation of the meal, everything that was going on out there, but she forgot who was right in front of her.

The people we connect with. See, Jesus asked questions, but he really didn't need to, you know, because Jesus knew the hearts of people. It says over and over in scripture that he knew the hearts of men. An example, John 2 25, in the New Living Translation, no one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in the heart of each person. He knew what was in the heart of a person's heart.

He knew that. So why did he ask questions? Because asking questions communicates concern. Asking questions engages people's hearts. Asking questions is deeper and more meaningful.

When you are engaged in somebody's conversation listening and asking questions, it shows that you really care. And Jesus understood that. He probably could have given them the exact answer they needed for that time, but he often asked questions. He often listened. He often connected with people at a deeper level.

I love how the New King James Version says it when we read the scripture earlier, and when he answered his parents when he was a child, he says, I was in my father's house. I'm about my father's house. I'm in my father's house. But a good translation of this is, did you not know that I must be about my father's business? He was about his father's business.

So what does that tell us? That listening and asking questions, being in the presence of people is actually our father's business. That's what he's about. And if it's our father's business to bring happiness to people, to connect with people, to love people in a deep and concerning and caring and loving way, should it not be our concern to love and connect and be concerned with those that are right in front of us, being very present? So let me just be a little practical.

I've got four things here I want to share with you real quick. It won't take you much longer here. So I know some of you are thinking about food and getting out of here. And some of you are probably a little scared on who's passing the coronavirus around right now. We're getting a little late, late in this game.

But let me just give you four things. Four very, very, very practical things that will help you. I believe will help you along the way here. How do we increase our influence, our presence with people? First of all, we have to evaluate the why.

It's like anything. You need to evaluate, why do I do this? Why do I react this way? Why is it when this phone rings, I have to pick it up immediately and look at it? Why does my mind drift over there?

Why do I have to go through the cycle over and over again? Oh, check my phone, check my emails, check my social media, check my Facebook, check my Instagram, and then repeat. Go right over it again and again and again and again. Why do I spend hours a day on my phone? Why do I do that?

Why? We have to evaluate why. And I think most people, when you ask why, it comes down to I'm bored. I'm just bored. And I want a fun way to be distracted.

If I don't want to deal with something, I just, just distractions help. I want fun distractions. I need to be doing something all the time. I can't be bored and I don't want to be, and I want to use that as a distraction. And we've lost the art and the virtue in the Christian faith of being still.

We don't know how to be still. We don't know how to be calm and know who God is. We don't take time to think, to dream, to reflect, to meditate, to pray, to wander, to just be in the presence of God for a minute, to refocus, reconnect with God, to set our day, to think about life, to think about life. We want to keep our thoughts focused on these things rather than our thoughts focused on the things that matter. Psalm 46 10, most of you know this.

It says, be still and know that I am God. And to the Christian, this is a virtue. This is a virtue we hold on to and it fuels our faith. Being still fuels our faith. It's important that we connect with God.

A lot of parents ask, well, how do I, how do I raise kids in a digital culture? How do you raise children in this, in this digital age when they're looking at their iPads and their iPhones all the time and stuff? But here's really what it comes down to. First, evaluate yourself. Because in most cases, it's like telling a kid not to curse and curse yourself.

yourself. You're on your phone. You're like, get off your phone. And then you're on your phone. You're not even paying attention to them.

So what do you expect them to do? So first, it starts with evaluating ourselves, learning what we can do differently because we can't tell our kids not to do something if we're not doing it ourselves. We need to correct ourselves in that area. Number two, we need to identify our relational values. You need to identify your relational values.

Think about who you want to be. Who do you really want to be? Because here's the deal. A lot of people live for a legacy and some live for their job or live for a financial legacy and live for the things of this world. Like, I'm going to leave a legacy here.

But the really the legacy that we all want to live is, what do I want to really be? I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better friend. I want to be a better neighbor. I want to be a better spouse.

Those are the things with those relational legacies that we should really be looking and leaning into. And we all have these ideas of leaving a legacy. But what if our legacy that we spend all of our time in is the wrong legacy and it's really not focused on the right thing or what's right in front of us? An eternal legacy. If you don't have relational values, you don't have relational convictions.

If you don't have relational values set in place, then you're not going to feel bad about spending four to eight hours a day in your job or your focus or whatever you're focused on to leave that legacy and only spending about four to eight minutes a day connecting with your spouse and your children because you place a value in something else. Thirdly, this is very practical, power down occasionally. Power down occasionally. I would say power down regularly, but some of you would freak out right now if I told you that. You'd be like, regularly?

I mean, I'd rather tithe more than do that, right? I mean, I'd rather do, what else do you have for me, pastor? You know? Power down occasionally. So I say, start occasionally.

Just power down occasionally. See, Jesus is often unplugged. He went up to a mountain after days of ministering, or all day of ministering, and he would go up, and he would pray, and he would seek God. The disciples even went with them one time, and what happened? They fell asleep.

They were so bored. They didn't have their technology to engage in. And they got tired, and they went to sleep. But Jesus often unplugged so that he could refuel. And it's okay to turn off your phone once in a while.

I just want to let you know that. It's okay, all right? Can I say that again? It's okay to not answer an email the minute you get it, or the text the second you get it. Some people don't ask you to text quick enough.

You know, they'd let it sit for two or three days, you know? But that's another story for another time. But for you, it's okay. You don't have to be so engaged. In fact, the American Psychological Stress Report says this, 75% of American adults agree that doing a digital detox would be good for their health.

But less than 25% actually do it. Isn't that something? There's this thing called nomophobia. It's the fear of being without a phone. A fear of no phone.

How many of you can relate to that? You lose your phone, and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't have my phone. What am I going to do? I'm disconnected. I remember when I first got my cell phone, I couldn't believe that you could actually drive around and be connected to somebody all day.

You know, wow, I have, you know, it was a little Nokia cell phone when I was, I think, in late, 19, 20 years old. And I had, you know, you paid a dollar a minute to use it. But it was, it was really cool. You know, I could be connected. Now we can't stand to not be connected, you know?

Nomophobia. The fear of being without a phone. 50% of people actually suffer from this, is what reports say. And I can relate. I mean, I lost my phone.

They were kind of picking on me earlier. But a couple of months ago, or about a month ago, I left my phone on top of my car, and it fell off and broke in the middle of the road. So, you know, I'm like, oh my gosh, I got to go two or three days without a phone. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?

Nobody's going to be able to connect with me. What's going on? I got business to do. You can ask my wife. She's like, I got to get a phone here as quick as possible.

We got to order something and have it go right away, you know? We've got to do that. And then you kind of step back and say, wow, wow. Here's how you can power down. Just add a meal.

Family dinner. Power down. Super easy. When you have coffee with a friend, you know, just turn it over. Now, I realize that some of you have wives you need to keep up with.

I get that. So, if it beeps, I'm not telling you to ignore your wife if she's calling in or ignore somebody at something important. I get that. But for so many of us, we do that, and then it doesn't stop there. We go in, and we want to, you know, do this, and then we go and check.

You know, we just, it's just, it's just really, really, really bad. How about when you go to bed at night? How many of you leave your phone beside your bed, and you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do, what do you do? You look at your phone. Because you're looking at the time, but then, oh, I got a notification, you know, and you pop right on.

So, you need to do this, and that leads me to my fourth point. How do you get there? Install speed bumps. Install speed bumps. And this is my last point.

Install speed bumps. I love how Proverbs 27, 12 says, sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later. Right? Sensible people set up things, set up barriers to keep them from entering into that territory. It's an obstacle that intends to slow us down.

Well, that's what a speed bump is, right? Put a speed bump in the road, it slows you down. So, you get the impulse, you hit the speed bump, which keeps you from the action. I heard about somebody ordering, you can order these things online called phone jails. And you can set up a phone jail, and put all your phones in there, and lock them up, and keep them over to the side, and, you know, at certain times of the day.

Just lock them up. Maybe that's something you want to do. Maybe you need to remove your phone from your bedroom. Like, when you go in your bedroom in the evening, when it's time to settle down, no phone. Phone's in the other room.

That way, you wake up in the morning, and the first thing you do is think about God, and not your phone. Right? Or whatever you need to think about when you wake up in the morning. There's one pastor that does this thing. He says, be present.

Doug Fields, in fact, borrowed a lot of his information for the sermon for this. And he has stickers. You can actually purchase them online. It's a B, and there's a present underneath it. And he puts it on the back of his phone, and anytime he picks up his phone, he sees be present.

Be present with people. Don't look at your phone. Be present. So no speed bumps. You'll be robbed.

You'll be robbed of relationships. You'll be robbed of connections. You'll be robbed of validation. You'll be robbed of happiness. Because the goal is to bring happiness in your family, in your community, in people's lives, because we are life-giving believers.

So the last statement I want to make is presence clearly communicates you matter to me. You matter to me. People need to know that they matter. In closing, people need to know in a culture that is so broken. If I could get some music on.

A culture that is sick and broken. When people matter to you, when you love them, treat them differently. You treat them differently. See, culture says, I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm going to focus on my own thing.

I'm not going to connect with them because, you know, that's their thing. That's their life. That's their situation, yeah? You know, but as believers, as people, we should understand the power of presence, of being present in front of people and people. And they actually become happier.

It might be culturally acceptable to look at your phone and be disconnected, but it's counter-culturally acceptable to be clear of the phone and really focus on what matters most, the people that God has placed in front of you and in your life. It's very clear. And if you want to be counter-culture, you've got to look like Jesus. The heart of being a believer, being a Christian, being transformed in the image of Christ, to be a Christian. A Christ bearer, a person who is like Christ, who lives like Christ, who forgives like Christ, who loves like Christ, who engages like Christ, who listens and asks questions, who loves people despite what they do to them.

He sat on a cross. He was hung on a cross as the people were spitting on him, rebuking him and calling him names. And what did he do? He looked up to heaven. He looked up to God and he says, my God, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing.

They don't know what they're doing. That's how much he deeply loved people. That's why that's why he deeply loved us, that he gave his life for us. So my question for you today, do you look like Jesus? I don't know about you.

I want to grow more like Jesus every day, every possible waking moment, every possible sleeping moment. I want to dream Jesus. I want to thank Jesus. I want to look like Jesus. I want to act like Jesus.

And I know I've got a lot of stuff. I'm human, right? But, but that's not my excuse. I don't want to be human. I want to be God.

I want to be like God. I want to be like God. So I grow and I walk and wherever you are in your spiritual walk, you can take one step closer to Christ. Because that's why we exist as a church, to bring people one step closer into a relationship with Christ. For some of you today that maybe this is your, your, your, your first, your first time in church for a while.

Maybe you've never stepped into a church before. Maybe you're out there online and you're in your home and something's telling you in your heart. Maybe it's time for me to make a decision for Jesus. Maybe it's time for me to be a follower of Jesus. Maybe this is the time, this is the moment that could change eternity, change your life forever.

This is the transforming moment. And we want to take this moment very seriously because the Holy Spirit is calling you in right now. He says, I love you. I want to be in your presence. I want to have a present and very active relationship with you.

He loves you so much. You are welcomed and you are wanted in the family of God. He wants you to be a part of His love. So if you would bow your heads and close your eyes and I'll, I'll just pray this prayer. You can pray it with me wherever you are.

Whether you're somebody who's a believer who just wants to take a step closer to Christ, or you're somebody who's like, I'm going to give my life to Christ. I'm ready to give my life to Christ today. Just, I plead with you, I beg you, give your life to Christ today. It will make all the difference. Father, in the name of Jesus, we realize that you are the only hope, you're the only way.

Today, I ask that, that you challenge our hearts and challenge our lives wherever we are on our spiritual walk, Lord, that we would grow closer to you, that we'd be more like you, that we'd be present with people, that we'd care to love and listen and ask questions and really be concerned about those who, who are, who are in trouble, who are hurting, who are far from you, Lord, that our hearts would pierce for people like that. But more importantly today, Lord, there are those who are listening under the sound of my voice right now that do not know you. And today, they are prepared to make that decision. So if that's you out there, just pray this with me. Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin.

Today, I make a decision to walk with you. I believe that you rose from the dead on the third grade day, proving that you were God and that you were coming again. But today, Lord, I make a confession of, in faith, and placed upon your grace that you poured out on the cross. And I give my life to you, in your name. Amen.

Amen. Can y'all give God a hand clap?